Page 53 of A Beautiful Crime

Boldly I trace the outline of her luscious lips with the pad of my middle finger. Her lips then part as she inhales a sharpbreath. My eyes remain on hers the entire time and it’s a beautiful sight to behold when her eyes start to burn for the desire she loves to deny.

Cocking my head the side I study her like the rare breed that she is. I take in account how her eyes betray her before her body does. And when her body does betray her it’s almost indiscernible unless you peer awfully close.

Then as if she remembers who I am, and how she’s supposed to act with my hands on her skin, she jerks her head violently to the side, exposing her delicate neck and denying me the pleasure of gazing upon her face.

Not deterred in the least I allow that same finger to trail her jawline and down her neck. Then when my finger meets her maddening pulse point I press against it.

“Ah, would you look at that,” I say in wonder with a smirk playing on my lips. Her mouth returns to that stiff firm line but her eyes betray her. As they always seem to do around me. They glance at me with curiosity. “Your heart beats.”

Stiffly, she takes a step back from me, but my smirk transforms to a wicked dark smile.

She places her pale delicate hand against her throat, right over the pulse point my fingers had touched.

And my god, what I wouldn’t do to have my hand wrapped around her throat as I’m balls deep inside her wet cunt.

“What are you doing here? I thought the kidnapping was scheduled for tonight at my papa’s home.”

I take notice how she mentions the place she resides as her papa’s and not a place she calls home.

I arch a brow at her. “Is it considered a kidnapping when I am not abducting you? You are, after all, coming to me willingly.”

“And yet I’m still a captive.”

Closing the distance between us I wrap my hand around her delicate neck. The air leaves her body as electric sparks aroundus. I know she can’t deny the charge we create. The heat of fire that rises to an inferno.

“When will you realize, mia leonessa , that you are not a piece on the chess board to be manipulated and coerced? How long will it take for you to realize you’re the Queen?”

Her eyes flash, the undulated fury turning them a bright green. “When people start treating me as one.”

My finger flexes over her pulse point and it goes wild. She inhales a sharp breath that does nothing to calm the fire rising inside her. Nor does it stop the chaotic storm of emotions.

Bending slightly I tilt my head downward until our lips almost meet. Her lips part on a breath and it takes great restraint to not claim them as I want.

Our breaths mingle together as I say to her on a low purr, “A Queen demands respect. You can’t expect people to treat you like royalty when you pose as a doormat.”

“I’m not a doormat.”

“Aren’t you? What have you done to prove otherwise, Carina?” I ask her. She remains silent although her anger is as loud as thunder.

“You have no idea what I’ve endured,” she seethes, her body trembling with rage.

“It’s not about what you have endured, Carina. Everyone has endured. It’s about when you decided you’ve had enough and stand against the patriarchy.”

“So easy for you to say. You were born a man with an empire bestowed upon your feet by your papa, another man who had been gifted the very same. How could you possibly grasp what I’ve endured? And how can you stand there insisting that I have done nothing of my own volition. You, Signore, claim to know me but you know nothing at all.”

Violently she removes my hand from her neck and takes a healthy step away from me.

But oh, on the inside I’m filled with pride and turned on from her outburst of rage.

This, this is the woman who is meant to rule by my side.

This is a woman who knows power and understands it.

This is a woman all men will bow down to.

“Now only if you would use that fire and intensity against the ones who are responsible.”

She arches a cool brow. “And you believe you’re not?”

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